Axle mounting for toy articles

ABSTRACT

An axle mounting for a toy vehicle wherein the vehicle chassis is provided with transversely aligned downwardly opening notches having their upper closed ends offset from the open ends, an axle disposed across the chassis with its end portions seated in the upper ends of the notches, and a body member in the chassis above said notches and having a rigid projection depending vertically in alignment with the open ends of the notches and downwardly to the horizontal plane thereof to engage and retain the axle in its seated position.

United States Patent Inventors Ronald R. Pauly Mound; Thomas W. Good, Plymouth, both of, Minn. Appl. N a 879,714 Filed Nov. 25, 1969 Patented Aug. 17, 1971 Assignee Tonka Corporation Mound, Minn.

AXLE MOUNTING FOR TOY ARTICLES 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

11.8. C1. 46/221, 46/223 Int. CL 1. A63h 17/26 Field of 46/221, 201, 202

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,516,526 7/1950 Norton 46/221 Francis 2,510,310 6/1950 46/221 UX 3,205,616 9/1965 Nisperly 46/221 X 3,063,194 11/1962 Berguerand 46/221 UX 3,389,496 6/1968 Cremer 46/221 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assislqnt Examiner-D. L. Weinhold Attorney-Carlsen, Carlsen and Sturn ABSTRACT: An axle mounting for a toy vehicle wherein the vehicle chassis is provided with transversely aligned downwardly opening notches having their upper closed ends offset from the open ends, an axle disposed across the chassis with its end portions seated in the upper ends of the notches, and a body member in the chassis above said notches and having a rigid projection depending vertically in alignment with the open ends of the notches and downwardly to the horizontal plane thereof to engage and retain the axle in its seated position.

PATENTED AUG! 7 I971 SHEET 1 BF 2 m nmhuhm M /A, r

INVENTORS 170M941: 1e. Paar BY 7waM4s M 6000 U I "l "KW flrramvams AXLE MOUNTING FOR 'rov ARTICLES In the manufacture of toy vehicles the manufacturers are constantly looking for economies in the assembly operation as well as durability. One time-consuming step involves the mounting of the wheels on the toy. This has conventionally entailed providing transversely aligned apertures in the vehicle chassis, inserting an axle through the apertures and then mounting the wheels on the ends of the axle. An alternate method frequently used involves forming the chassis with transversely aligned downwardly opening slots having tabs appended nearby, inserting the wheel-axle assembly into the slots and then bending the tabs over to close the open ends of the slots to hold the axle therein. The latter method permits preassembly of the wheels and axle but, of course, requires the bending operation at each slot and results in a construction having a plurality of undesirable exposed metal edges and which is subject to ready breakage.

The object of the present invention is to provide a toy vehicle construction wherein the vehicle chassis has axle receiving slots which are closed by portions of the body member when the body and chassis are assembled to secure an axle in the slots.

Another object of the invention is to provide an axle mounting for toy vehicles which leaves the underside of the vehicle chassis smooth and free of undesirable sharp edges and protrusions.

with these objects in view the invention broadly comprises a chassis having one or more pairs of downwardly opening slots, the slots in each pair being transversely aligned in the longitudinally extending sidewalls of the chassis and having their upper ends offset in a longitudinal direction from their open ends,-an axle extending transversely of the chassis between each pair of notches with the end portions of the axle seated in the upper ends of the notches, and a body member fitting downwardly within the chassis and having a rib projecting downwardly to and in transverse alignment with the open ends of each pair of notches to retain the axle in seated positron;

The above mentioned and additional objects of the invention will be brought to light during the course of the following specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through one embodiment of the invention with the vehicle components in assembled condition.

FIG. 2 is an end elevation taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and showing the chassis and body partially in transverse vertical section.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view prior to assembly of the chassis and body members with the chassis being shown in longitudinal vertical section as in FIG. 1 and with the body shown in side elevation.

FIG. 4 is an inverted plan view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

' FIG. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section through a second embodiment of the invention with the body and chassis in preassembly positions.

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5 with the body andchassis assembled.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, reference characters will be used to denote like parts or structural features in the different views. The toy vehicle denoted generally at 10 in FIGS, 1 to 4 is made up of a chassis 11, a body member 12, and one or more wheel and axle assemblies each comprising an axle 14 having a wheel 15 mounted on each end. Chassis 11 is preferably formed of sheet metal material and has an upwardly opening panlike configuration with transversely spaced stepped sidewalls 16 extending upwardly from a bottom wall 17 and interconnected by upwardly diverging end walls 18 and l9.

The sidewalls 16 are provided with transversely aligned and coextensive inverted L-shaped notches 20 (FIG. 3) which open downwardly from the bottom edges of the walls as at 21 and which have their upper closed ends 22 longitudinally offset from the openings 21. There is a pair of these notches for reception of each axle 14 on the vehicle. Bottom wall 17 has a slot 24 (FIG. 4) extending transversely thereacross connecting the open ends 21 of each pair of notchesThe upper closed end portion 22 of each notch is of sufficient size to receive the axle 14 is a completely ofi'set position from the slot 24 in a direction longitudinally of the vehicle leaving the slot completely exposed from above.

The body member 12 is unitary and preferably, though not necessarily, formed of molded plastic. It has a containerlike configuration with a bottom wall 26 and sidewalls 27 and end walls 28 surrounded by a rim 29 having a peripheral lip 30 adapted to seat upon and continuously engage the upper edges of chassis walls 16, 18 and 19 to which it is suitably secured by adhesive or the like.

A plurality of ribs 31 project downwardly in longitudinally spaced relation from the bottom wall 26 extending transversely thereacross one in verticalalignment with each of the slots 24 in the bottom wall 17 of the chassis. The ends of these ribs 31 are designed to fit within and substantially fill the slots 24 when the lip 30 is seated upon the top edges of the chassis so that the end surfaces 32 of the ribs are flush with the bottom surface of wall 17. A pair of book portions 34 project downwardly in longitudinally spaced relation to each rib 32. These serve as bearing members for the top side of the axle 1-7.

In assembling the vehicle the chassis 11 is supported in inverted position with the notches 20 up. Axles 14 with the wheels 15 mounted thereon are dropped through slots 24 with one wheel on each side of the chassis. With the chassis tilted so that the axles are at rest in the closed end portions 22 of the notches, the chassis is lowered onto the inverted body member 12 until the ribs 31 .enter the slots 24. As the lip 30 engages the edges of the chassis walls the rib end faces 32 will be flush with the outer surface of wall 17 and ribs 31 will lock axles 14 in the notch portions 22. When turned to an upright position the inner arches of the hook portions 34 will project slightly below the upper edges of notch portions 22 to serve as bearings for the axles.

A slightly modified and simplified form of the invention is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Here the chassis 40 has the same general panlike configuration as chassis 1 1. However, the bottom wall 41 has an irregular configuration to provide an appearance of axle housing 42 extending across the bottom of the chassis. The chassis sidewalls are provided with transversely aligned and coextensive'downwardly opening notches 44 which are similar to notches 20 of the first embodiment except that they are arcuate rather than L-shaped. The numeral 45 denotes the open ends of the notches and a slot extending transversely across the bottom wall 41 connecting the open ends in each pair thereof. Axles 46 have wheels 47 mounted at each end.

An insertable body member 48 corresponding to the body 12 of the first embodiment has a Hat plate 49 adapted to fit downwardly and seat within chassis 40 and a plurality of depending transversely extending vertical ribs 50 adapted to project downwardly one into each slot 45 to hold axles 46 in the upper ends thereof. It will be understood that the notches 44 may be angular as well as arcuate. The important feature is that the upper ends of the notches receiving the axles 46 be longitudinally offset from the open ends 45 of the notches. The assembly of this form of the invention is the same as with the first embodiment.

Having now therefore fully illustrated and described the invention, what we claim to be new and desire to protect by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a toy vehicle, a chassis member having a pair of transversely spaced longitudinally extending sidewalls, said walls having transversely aligned notches extending upwardly from the bottom edges of the wall with the upper ends of such interconnected by a bottom wall, said bottom wall having a slot extending transversely thereacross interconnecting the open ends of the notches to allow insertion of the axle into the upper ends of the notches prior to mounting the body member in the chassis.

3. The subject matter of claim 2 wherein said projection extends transversely the full distance between said sidewalls and fits within said slot to form a smooth bottom surface to the bottom of the chassis.

4. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said notches have an inverted L-shape with the upper leg thereof forming the closed end of the notch. 

1. In a toy vehicle, a chassis member having a pair of transversely spaced longitudinally extending sidewalls, said walls having transversely aligned notches extending upwardly from the bottom edges of the wall with the upper ends of such notches offset longitudinally from the bottom open ends thereof, a wheel axle seated in the said upper ends of said notches, and a body member disposed between said sidewalls and affixed to the chassis and having a rigid projection in vertical alignment with the open ends of the notches and extending downwardly to approximately the horizontal plane thereof to retain the axle in said upper ends of the notches against removal through the open ends thereof.
 2. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said sidewalls are interconnected by a bottom wall, said bottom wall having a slot extending transversely thereacross interconnecting the open ends of the notches to allow insertion of the axle into the upper ends of the notches prior to mounting the body member in the chassis.
 3. The subject matter of claim 2 wherein said projection extends transversely the full distance between said sidewalls and fits within said slot to form a smooth bottom surface to the bottom of the chassis.
 4. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said notches have an inverted L-shape with the upper leg thereof forming the closed end of the notch. 